Forecastle Fest 2015 will happen on July 17–19, 2015, at Waterfront Park, Weekend passes go on sale this Friday, January 30, at noon ET. Details and the lineup at ForecastleFest.com.
Here’s the poster for the first wave of 2015 Forecastle Fest artists

“With their eponymous album released on Monday and their national tour starting later this month, the two insist not only on their own bankable stardom, but also on the importance of the sound they helped create. And yet, to look at the duo’s respective career trajectories, and the astoundingly generic quality of their album, Nick & Knight showcase a sad, strange take on a certain kind of masculinity, and thus the whole boyband genre: though pretty and well-choreographed, the duo are aggressive and desperate in their attempt to assert their own importance, and assure us that they’re not impotent. ” – Jennifer Garson, The Guardian (UK)

Take one Back Street Boy and one New Kid On The Block and together you get Nick & Knight, a collaboration between Nick Carter and Jordan Knight. With a brand-new Nick & Knight album, they’re on tour and will hit the Mercury Ballroom on September 17. The album, which features songs written by committees of noted writers, has done well enough to peak at No. 24 on the U.S. Chart so far. Of course, these two still have fans, most of whom at headed into their thirties, who’ll come out to see them, no doubt. The whole shebang is one professionally engineered, produced and staged event, so it’ll be a thouroughly current pop show that should appeal to those fans. The critics? No so much. Tickets are $45 + $13 fee.

Former daytime soap opera star and pop icon Jesse McCartney will bring his “In Technicolor” tour into the Mercury Ballroom on July 29. McCartney has quite a record in the entertainment business, having been a member of the boy band Dream Street before going pro with the platinum-selling Beautiful Soul in 2004. He won multiple awards at the 2005 Teen Choice Awards, including Choice Crossover Artist, Choice Male Artist and Choice Breakout, Male. The following year, he won Favorite Male Singer at the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards, so he built a teen and pre-teen fan base early on. Not to be slotted into one category, he also put songs up on a number of Disney soundtracks and take to writing songs for other artists, including co-writing credits for “Bleeding Love,” which was recorded by Leona Lewis on her debut album. His current recording is a In Technicolor, hence the name of his tour. The tour sponsor is TWIX® Brand Peanut Butter, so if you haven’t already got the message, this act is pure corporate America. Tickets to the show are$25 plus $5.25.

L.A.’s psych-pop group White Arrows opens for The Neighbourhood in a sold-out show at Headliners on July 3. We sent them a few questions to answer; presumably, it is the bandleader Mickey Church who responded:

1. Looks like this is your first trip to Derby City. What have you been told to expect? What do think you know about Louisville?
I really don’t know anything about Louisville, and have no idea what to expect. Good bbq?

2. Since you began on a whim, has the whim hardened into a desire/lust or just a sustained interest in writing songs?
It’s been cool to see how it’s progressed into something worthwhile. This new record seems like a solid piece that is cohesive. It’s a time capsule of one place and time in my life.

4. You’ve been touring with some fairly significant bands early in the game. Feel lucky, entitled or confused at how it all happened?
It happened so quickly that I appreciate it in retrospect. I’ll get asked who’ve we played with, and as I’m listing my mind is getting blown. We got lucky, and had too many opportunities early on to pass on, even before we really had any kind of musical releases.

5. Dry Land Is Not A Myth sounds like a slogan for a post-sea level rise. Do you believe the scientists or the politicians about climate change?
Is this a fair question? I believe scientists. Maybe by then we will have gills.

6. Your upcoming record is titled In Bardo,yes? If Google is to be believed, bardo is a Tibetan word meaning “in-between state.” So what state are you in between and what do you plan to do about it?
I think it marks the end of the transitional state. A lot of the topics on the new record deal with death, but it’s not in a bleak way. It’s more in the way of a circle of life. This record is darker and heavier than the first one, so I feel like that was the transition in finding ourself, and our sound.
7. All of the questions above have been an effort to draw a distinction between you guys and The Neighbourhood for readers. Here’s your chance to explain that on your own terms, that might make them leave the show thinking “that opening band was …” Fill in the blank.
We’re all snowflakes. No two are the same.